Allied Commonwealth Forces start to muster for El Alamein

Allied Commonwealth Forces start to muster for El Alamein

Being as enthused as I have been of late with gaming  El Alamein and the Desert War on the one hand, and Kursk on the other has led to some confusion. Having just converted all my Desert Themed armies to European theatre of war the Desert Lust grabbed me again. so here I find myself building Gun Tractors, 6pdr guns and painting Desert Rats again...

Thought I might convert some Aussie Jungle Fighters to Desert Fighters, and Some regular  8th Army and Ghurka figures into Indian Troops, giving my 8th Army a bit more Colonial flavour. 

My Indian Division have received a couple of coats, and have been glued to their bases. Still a way to go before they are ready for the table.

Turbans and Kukri, cold steel and conquered warrior tribes, all in service of the Empire

While on arriving from down under, we have a boat load full of Aussie cobbers

In the confusion of a dust storm on my workbench Friend and Foe seem to have been thrown together: Luftwaffe Gunners, Heer Artillerymen, Regular English 8th Army Sappers, and Aussie Infantry mill about, waiting to be based.

I have struggled to find figures in 1/72 scale with the obiquitous tropical pith helmets that both sides were issued with, until I stumbled upon some Hong Kong made copies of the old Airfix figures that were not too badly cast, except for their over-sized tin hats. Just perfect for converting to tropical helmets!

The South African troops in particular seemed to have been issued with these useless items (did block the sun, but no protection against flying metal). The conversion to Indian headgear is relatively straight forward, and the turbans are drying as we speak. The Aussies came with bush hats, and most of the Ghurkas too, so no issue there. Some Ghurka also wear a fez or kepi-like cap. No hope of finding a NZ Lemon squeezer hat though ! The truth is that all of these exotic headgear saw little use in battle.